PERFORMANCE: Only 1 per cent of cervical screening results were delivered within the two week target at NHS Shropshire County during the first half of 2010-11.
Despite local targets for 80-94 per cent of results to be returned to women within two weeks, the highest monthly performance from April to October was 1.9 per cent and the average was 1.1 per cent, latest board papers reveal.
The problem was due to a large backlog of samples at the cytology laboratory at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.
In addition, GP practices were not sending samples to the laboratory correctly or in a timely manner.
The primary care trust was aiming to ensure that by December 100 per cent of results were received by women within two weeks.
A spokesman said the backlog of more than 4,000 samples had been addressed, allowing the December figure to rise to 96.3 per cent.
This has created a cumulative year to date figure of 19.7 per cent.
Cancer services commissioning manager David Whiting said: “We are aware just how important this service is to the local people we serve and as a result we have worked together with the provider of screening services to produce an effective action plan to improve the performance as quickly as possible.”
This has involved outsourcing the work to other laboratories.
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